


A Safe And Shadowed Place

by Aierdome



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Backstory, Dream World, Gen, Ghosts, evil granny, luontos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-06-02 18:54:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6578374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aierdome/pseuds/Aierdome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Onni may be one of the best mages Keuruu has, but he's deathly scared of everything beyond Keuruu's walls - which doesn't sit well with his superior. Forced to patrol the dream world for signs of troll activity, Onni finds out that his fears aren't unfounded...</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Safe And Shadowed Place

**Author's Note:**

> Written as Secret Santa gift (prompt: "Onni") for Solovei. Takes place a day before Lalli's and Onni's conversation in dreamworld.

**I**

“I am _not_ going to explore the dreamworld alone.”

Having said that, Onni folded his arms across his chest  and glared at the man on the other side of the wooden desk in a run-down office. The cramped space submerged in perpetual gloom belonged to one Jussi Kulmala, a person who, for lack of a better word, could be described as the archmage of Keuruu. An elderly man with wire-frame glasses (imported from Sweden, it was said) and a small eagle badge on his shirt, he matched Onni’s glare with his own, his hands playing with a small swan statuette, one of many such figurines contributing to room’s feeling of total chaos.

“And _I_ am not going to lend you anyone to do the job that’s perfectly fine for one person. Are you perhaps forgetting that we’re quite short on mages, especially now that some of them are running off after money on misguided adventures into places best left alone?”

Onni growled inwardly, knowing perfectly well what Kulmala was alluding to. It’d been three days since Lalli and Tuuri, damn her naiveté, left with Taru, damn her in general, to explore the Silent World, and Kulmala seemed determined to remind Onni of this on any occasion possible, as if it was all the eldest Hotakainen’s fault.

Nevertheless, he wasn’t going to allow Kulmala to cow him into obedience with thinly-veiled accusations.

“I’m not a scout.”, he said now.

“Which part of ‘quite short on mages’ is not understandable for you, Hotakainen?”

“None. I’m also not immune.”

“It didn’t stop your sister, now did it?”

Onni felt the overwhelming urge to take one of the figurines – maybe the fox, the tail looked sharp – and smash it right into Kulmala’s face. The vision of this patrician nose and expensive, Sweden-imported glasses smashing into itty-bitty pieces was overwhelming and it took a few moments – and several deeper breaths – for Onni to resist making it reality.

“I fail…”, he managed to growl through clenched teeth, “To see. What this. Has to. Do. With. Anything.”

Kulmala sighed and leaned back in his chair, looking out of the window. Slightly calmer now that he’d gotten this particular, oft-thought phrase out of his system, Onni found himself following his gaze. Behind thick glass, it was early afternoon, with sun shining warm gold behind lazily falling snowflakes. People were bustling around the central square of Keuruu, carrying equipment and food, chatting, admiring the snow and, in case of a pair, dragging a corpse of a giant moose towards the kitchen. The scenery was almost peaceful, as if endless, eldritch horrors didn’t wait for them just beyond the small area the Finns had cut out of the wilderness for themselves.

At last, with both men’s spirits at relative peace, Kulmala turned back and nodded slowly.

“Alright, Hotakainen, I admit, this last comment was a cheap shot. Make no mistake, I do appreciate the work you’re doing right now, and I know that Lalli is… difficult at times. Nevertheless, even with winter rolling in, we still lack experienced mages, and we _need_ eyes out to see whether our hunters and scouts aren’t walking straight into troll nests. I know it’s not an easy job, I know you’re not immune, but frankly, I prefer to entrust this task to someone with over a decade of experience under his belt rather than newbies fresh out of training. I’m getting dozens of requests from all other Army divisions every single day, and inasmuch as I’m trying, our branch is still fresh and small in numbers, especially compared to others. I can’t have people dying because of that, though. I need all I can have.”

He sounded wistful, almost sad as he said that, and when he finished and looked at Onni hopefully, the young mage suddenly felt very uncomfortable. Angry, impatient and offensive Kulmala he could deal with; calm, nearly pleading Kulmala was harder to face. Onni stepped from foot to foot, pushing his hands in his pockets.

Kulmala continued to send him a hopeful stare, waiting.

Onni gritted his teeth, looking to the sides.

Kulmala stared, his eyes made bigger by the glasses.

Onni felt cold sweat running down his back. Suddenly the swan figurine in archmages hands became the most fascinating thing in the world.

Kulmala stared.

Onni pulled his arms up, trying to hide between them like a turtle from old pictures, wishing for nothing more than someone to enter the cabinet and break the heavy silence.

Kulmala stared, his stare weighing on Onni like a millstone. Even antique battery-powered clock among the figurines seemed to slow down to a crawl in its ticking.

_TiC… TiC… TiC… TiC…_

Onni swallowed.

Kulmala stared, unblinking.

_TiC… TiC… TiC…  
_

“Gahhh, alright! I’ll see what I can do!” , Onni threw his head back, feeling as if he had just signed a deal with some foul spirit. Kulmala smiled.

“Thank you, Hotakainen. I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful I am.”

That sounded artificial as hell, and Onni glared at him once again, but all that met him was a grateful smile.

“Just don’t expect too much of me.”

“Do not worry! Anything will be sufficient.”

“Mhm. _Yeeeeah_ , we’ll see about that tomorrow.”

***

“Onni boy! Aren’t you just a ray of sunshine this evening!”

Onni glared up from his soup to see a burly, bearded man by the name of Hannes, who looked more like a lumberjack than he did like a mage, sitting himself right next to him. A moment later Hannes’ weapon – a giant crossbow only he could hope to draw – begun poking Onni in the side as the man sat down to his meal. Among the busy noise of large, half-lit dining hall, his arrival went pretty much unnoticed.

Onni returned to his soup, hoping dearly that this offhand comment would be enough for Hannes to decide that their conversation was over, but no such luck. After a few spoons, the lumberjack-esque mage turned to him, his eyes gleaming with glee over shaggy beard.

“So, I’ve heard Kulmala enlisted you to help us out this evening! How did this happen, eh?”

Onni shrugged, his eyes firmly focused on the soup. Something boiled in it, trying to break the surface.

“Puppy eyes.”

Hannes laughed, his bellows powerful enough to shake the entire table. A moment later a meaty hand landed on Onni’s shoulder with the power of a Danish tank and the spoon the younger mage was holding went flying over the head of the women opposite him. Onni watched it go, heard someone curse in surprise, then turned to Hannes, who was still laughing.

“So, you joining our ranks tonight?”

“Apparently.”

“Excellent! Ready for the adventure?”

“Not in the slightest.”

Hannes laughed again and yet another crushing pat landed on Onni’s increasingly-hurting arm. A moment later the giant mage reached under the table and pulled something out, then slid it on the tabletop towards his smaller colleague. Onni glanced at it uncertainly.

It was a knife, similar to Lalli’s, but with blade almost as long as Onni’s forearm and clearly made for someone bigger than Hotakainens’ cousin. Onni picked it up with his not-hurting hand and glanced at Hannes questioningly.

“And that’s for…?”

“Whatever you’ll encounter. You’ve never bothered to get your own, after all.”

Despite his overall exhaustion and grumpiness, Onni felt something approaching gratitude as he picked up the knife and looked it over. He glanced at Hannes uncertainly.

“You sure you don’t need it yourself?”

Hannes grinned and patted the crossbow slung over his back.

“I’ve got this.” He then showed his hands, opening and closing them. “And these. Don’t worry-”

“ _Hotakainen_!”, a bellow went from general direction of the door. Onni turned sharply to see Valentina, Kulmala’s aide, searching the room for him. Having spotted him, she waved impatiently. “Evening runo.”

“Right… Yeah, see you, Hannes.” _I hope_ , Onni added in his head and looked back at Valentina. “One minute!”

He glanced at his soup, then looked for the spoon, remembered that it was probably somewhere among the day scouts two tables ahead, and quickly drunk straight from the bowl. Then he stood up, carefully attached the knife to his belt and started to push his way between all the rest of eating people, nursing his shoulder.

***

The last line of the runo rang out in the air and Onni slowly opened his eyes, looking up in the dark skies and wiping his forehead of sweat before shielding his face with one hand. Since that conversation with Kulmala, the snowfall had intensified, and people were already beginning to trudge paths in steadily-rising white mounds. Part of Onni’s plea to gods this evening was for it to stop snowing and the moon to show itself, but if this was going to happen, it would clearly be long in the making.

Indeed, it took a dozen minutes before the snowfall waned, before finally disappearing. A few moments later, wind picked up, chasing the clouds away. Feeling his limbs going weak with post-runo exhaustion, Onni looked back down and turned to Valentina, who waited for him under a small roof by the entrance to living quarters.

“Good job”, she told him.

“Pff. Apparently not good enough if I’m being drafted to do more.”

Onni begun to walk towards her, staggering a bit before stumbling and falling face-first towards the snow. Valentina took a few steps and grabbed him, helping him stand.

“You get ‘drafted’ precisely because you’re doing a good job.”, she told him, half-dragging him to living quarters. “Now quit your whining and go to sleep.”

Onni wanted to protest, but the wind picked up and blew away all the energy he might have left in him at this moment.

* * *

**II**

_He’s running through the woods, leaves crushing under his boots, branches whipping his face as he tries to cover it with one hand, the other pressing the mask to his mouth. Behind him, bass roars, earth-shaking stomps and crunching, breaking crescendo is running after him, getting closer with every moment, mere metres behind him. He hears screaming, muted, maybe his own, and tries to run faster, but the forest is thick and hostile, long wooden fingers of trees reaching out for him, slapping him across his face, hands and legs, grabbing his collar, trying to stop him and sacrifice him to roars and broken underbrush and claws and teeth.  
_

_Suddenly, he runs onto open space, but his elation is short-lived as he digs his heels in the ground, stopping and crying out in terror once again. In front of him, a few metres’ drop into a fast running stream. The water seems shallow and there are rocks jutting out, knives, claws waiting for him to…  
_

_The weight of entire universe slams into him and he flies through the air, breathless, his ribs suddenly burning with fire. He hits the stream, cold water attacking him at an instant, overpowering, drowning, freezing. He tumbles, water pushing him downstream, his mask lost, his hands trying to shield his face. Somewhere in the distance, something slams into the ground, shaking the world.  
_

_The water gets deeper and he falls down, his soaked cloak and boots pulling him deeper into the dark. He tries to kick, to pull himself up, manages to free himself of the cloak… A giant claw reaches underwater, mere metres from him and he tries to scream, but there’s no air, only cold, freezing water carrying him downstream…_

***

Onni’s eyes flew open, he breathed sharply and his hands scrambled around, trying to find out where he is. He sat down and, for a moment, thought he’s back at the stream’s bank, the troll chasing after him about to arrive any minute. A moment later, reality reasserted itself as he saw purplish shade of light, tall trees disappearing into mist and slow-rolling waters between stone banks carved to enable people to reach the river. Onni breathed deeply, feeling his hearbeat calm slowly.

His dream area. His own perimeter, empty of anyone except himself. A safe and shadowed place, cut out of the horrors from beyond.

He slowly stood up, staggering a little bit, and walked up the rock to the base of the nearest tree. He leaned on it, eyeing his domain. All seemed at calm, and he wanted nothing more than to procrastinate there for a few hours, regaining strength for the morning runo, but alas, he gave Kulmala his word. He checked his belt for Hannes’ knife and pulled it out, nearly a foot of cold steel doing little to calm his fear. As he walked towards the mists surrounding his perimeter, he felt a wave of cold washing over him, a lump of something heavy climbing up to his throat. He stopped just at the edge of thick clouds, trying not to think of what was waiting behind. He closed his eyes.

Did he hear rustling? He took a sharp breath, looking around, turning, the knife in front of him, shaking ever so slightly. He slowly scanned everything around him, trying to calm his nerves. It must’ve been the wind, rustling his cape… Yes, this had to be it. Time to go forward, he told himself. Let’s go. Let’s do it. Time to go, Onni. C’mon, move. _Move_.

Still his legs held him in place. Onni covered his mouth with one hand, hearing his breath shake. That’s idiotic, he told himself firmly. It’s been ten years. It probably doesn’t even know where we are anymore.

The thought was somewhat uplifting and Onni found himself able to move his legs again. He walked deeper into the mist, trying to dismiss shadows in the milky clouds as nothing more than a trick of light. In front of him, a bird-like form was slowly taking shape, stars glistening within it. Onni stopped uncertainly in front of it, taking a few deep breaths.

Then he grabbed his knife stronger and went through.

***

The water beneath his feet was gurgling and hissing, semi-realized forms taking shapes and losing them every few moments, suggestions of horns, claws and teeth hiding just under the surface, beastly skulls staring from the depths with empty eye sockets. Onni tried to ignore them as he walked a narrow path of stones, searching for tell-tale signs of trolls’ magical presence. The air was motionless and neither warm nor cold, its temperature impossible to describe or measure, and despite night sky shining unblinkingly above, there was enough light to see with perfect quality. There was something unsettling about it, but Onni put those thoughts at rest, too. It’s been a while since he dared to leave his perimeter.

Shapes flickered in distance sometimes, human and moving naturally, likely Onni’s fellow mages. He felt like calling out to them, but something about the skeletons under the surface stopped him, as if they cast a shroud of solemn silence on entirety of the dream lands. He doubted he’d appreciate what would happen if he interrupted their slumber.

Despite spirits’ presence and his own grim thoughts, as time went on, Onni felt his stress ease bit by bit, his steps becoming lighter, moving forward easier. The spirit world seemed empty that night and when he looked back, he could see his feet’s wake, frozen as if in ice, pointing clearly to his own area. It seemed safer than he remember. He turned back, intent on going further if this was what the night was going to look like. Perhaps he’d even agree to take it on as a regular duty…

Something stopped him dead in his tracks. There was a light up ahead, pale yellowish bleached sun that had no place in the land of dreams. Onni eyed it warily, raising the hand with the knife. A moment later, perhaps emboldened by his venture so far, he started to walk forth. The light wasn’t something Onni associated with trolls – quite the contrary, really…

As he moved closer, structures started to form from the water, blades of rock covered in oily, wet moss, rising tall above Onni’s head like silent guardians, slowly forming some labyrinthine path the yellowish light hid deep within. Silence fell deeper, the hissing and gurgling of unformed spirits slowly dying out, as if they didn’t dare get closer. A path of stone bricks arranged in intricate pattern rose from the water. Onni stopped at its edge, looking around. Stones flanked him like giants, not hostile, but vaguely unsettling, though he couldn’t explain why. He walked closer to one of them and scratched the moss with the knife.

Untrue to its form and appearance, it fell apart like sand.

Onni slowly backed out of the maze, knife raised, cursing his own damned curiosity. This wasn’t natural. This wasn’t something that should exist in the spirit world. This looked like a mage’s perimeter, but with no natural barriers, no presence, nothing guarding it from attack of trolls and evil spirits. He should keep as far away from it as possible and alert other mages, people who were actually immune and with much more experience, to bring the whole thing toppling down, whatever it was-

“Leaving me already? A pity. You’ve only just arrived…”

The voice was behind him. Onni froze, his breath caught in his throat as he recognized it, sweet and friendly, with some echo that wasn’t supposed to be there.

“Come on, Onni, don’t be so shy. I haven’t seen you in a long, long time. Please - show your face.”

Onni pressed his free hand to his mouth, covering it and his nose, and slowly turned around. She stood there, and any shade of hope that it wasn’t who Onni thought it was vanished. He swallowed hard.

“Grandma…”

* * *

  **III**

She looked younger than Onni remembered her, but this didn’t help much. Her pale, lanky hair were oily, dirty, clustered in thick strains covering her face, and beneath them, her skin had the rotten white shade of a corpse submerged in water for too long. She didn’t have eyes anymore, only black pits, with scraps of skin clinging to yellowed bone around the eye sockets. She was clothed in some dirty rags bearing remains of the eagle symbol and a cloak made of suspiciously pale leather. When she smiled, yellow lips drew back, revealing rotten, broken teeth.

“Onni… My dear Onni, my favourite grandson. It’s been so many years, I’ve almost forgotten what you look like. You’ve grown up, haven’t you? Please, let me see your face.”

Onni, his eyes wide open, shook his head slowly.

“I’ll pass.” His voice was muffled. “I’m still not immune.”

“Oh, Onni.” She chuckled, the other voice underneath the first one mocking. “You shouldn’t worry so much. We’re safe here!”

Her voice, high and sweet, brought back memories of better days. Onni fought them down as she started to move towards him, her feet living no trace of passage in the water. He took a step back, then realized that he was stuck between this parody of his grandmother and the tainted remains of her perimeter. He raised the knife, quietly thanking all the gods that he accepted it.

“Not a step further!”, he called out, hating his voice for getting higher. She stopped.

“ _Tsk, tsk_ … Is that a good way to welcome your family back?”

“I don’t think we’re family anymore.”

Her expression darkened, her long fingers twitching and curving like talons.

“Oh? And why would that be?”

“You’re a _kano_ , grandma. You’re not human anymore.”

She was still smiling, but there was something feral in this smile now. Empty pits of her eyes bore into Onni as he took another step back. The knife seemed warm under his hands, and as he glanced at it, he saw the blade glow faintly.

He looked back to what was once his grandmother. She’d taken her emotions under control and her smile was yet again a mockery of pleasantness.

“That’s unkind of you to say, Onni. I have no wish of hurting you, after all. I only want to talk.”

He shook his head again. Even if she believed it, she was now nothing more than a vector of the Rash, and who said she believed it anyway, or, for that matter, that her definition of ‘conversation’ was still anywhere close to that of the living?

“Don’t force my hand, Onni… I need to talk with you.”

She smiled, stretching out a hand in an inviting gesture. She still didn’t act as if she truly wanted to hurt him, and for Onni, that was emboldening. He took a deeper breath, narrowing his eyes.

“ _No_. Get away from me. Let me get back home.”

“But I can lead you home, Onni. You just have to go with me.”

“ _No!_ ” He took the stance he’d been taught on a basic training eternity ago, low on his knees, one arm still covering his face, the other half-outstretched, ready to strike. “Let me out!”

She shook her head regretfully.

“Oh, my dear grandson. So stuck in your ways. Pity, but what can we do? Maybe my other grandchildren will be more reasonable…”

Onni felt is if the words hit him right in the stomach. He didn’t worry about Lalli – hell, Lalli would deal with this better than _him_ , at any rate – but the thought of their grandma getting her claws into Tuuri…

“Don’t you _dare_.”, he hissed. Her grin widened, blackened gums of her teeth bleeding black.

“So will you consider my offer?”

Of what? Following her, getting himself infected, turning into _kano_ , making his try at wiping out Keuruu?

“Over my dead body.”

This was a bad, bad, _bad_ turn of phrase, and Onni realized it the moment she raised her hands and ghastly yellow light flashed in the pits of her eyes.

“If you so wish…”

He barely managed to jump aside when something flew out of her perimeter, crashing into the water. He didn’t look back, running over the water, spirits and trolls hissing and reaching for him with their claws as he tried to find his path back home. He could see it in the distance, great mists promising safety as his feet splashed the water and something ran after him, roaring, bringing night.

“Come back!” The second voice was laughing now and Onni ran faster, clutching the knife, not daring to look back, one hand still pressed to his face. The mists weren’t getting any closer, the opposite, really, as if his own mind was trying to run away from him…

Suddenly the ground ended and he barely had time to take a breath before water, neither hot nor cold, engulfed him, pulling him down. His blade and his eyes glowing, he looked around in panic. Spirits were reaching out to him, oily black hands with thousands of eyes, bones and teeth and claws… He turned around, trying to find himself, trying to figure out where _forward_ was… Great shadow fell over him. Onni looked up and swallowed, seeing those familiar empty eyes from years ago…

There was a hand in the water right next to him, familiar, if skeletal. He looked away from the troll waiting patiently for him as his vision was starting to swim from lack of air. Over the mirror surface of water, she looked almost like grandma used to.

“Just take my hand, Onni.”, she said over the thud of his heart. “It will be alright.”

The moment seemed to have frozen there. She was waiting for him, hand outstretched, lights in her face making it seems as if she was still human and not a _kano_. The great shadow looked like nighttime. The trolls around him, in the water, waited patiently.

Odd, but in this moment, Onni didn’t even feel terrified. Just… insulted, really, that she’d think he’ll fall for a trick as transparent as grabbing her hand. He sent her a glare. He was one of the most powerful mages in Keuruu. How could she believe…

_For such a powerful mage, you seem awfully close to getting yourself killed by a_ kano _,_ a snarky voice almost like his own sounded in his head and Onni felt a new resolve mounting up within him. He let out what little air he had left in his lungs and summoned his powers, feeling them surge through him as pale light flashed around him.

Her eyes went wide, he was quite sure of it, as he summoned his _luonto_ and felt the weakest touch of feathers on his skin.

With a breathless cry, he burst out of the water, glowing owl’s wings throwing the trolls aside, their shrieks poetry to his ears as he flew high above the water, for a moment invincible and untouchable. He landed in ankle-deep water and spun around…

She was right in front of him, still smiling. Onni barely managed to hold back his breath when she clutched her hand into a fist and bones rose from the water to take him. He brought his hands together and the _luonto_ hid him between its wings, then summoned a burst of air from above. Air around him exploded in sudden decompression and pieces of bone and flesh flew away. Before they even hit the water, Onni was on the move, running away from her, to where the mists of his perimeter were slowly growing in his eyes.

Behind him, he heard a roar and the world shook as the beast ran after him. Something grabbed his ankle and he nearly fell to the ground, his _luonto_ shooting up to escape the roar and fangs running after him. Onni jabbed the oily hand with the knife and it backed off, hissing and shrieking. Onni tried to scramble to his feet, then saw a shadow fall over him and turned on his back.

The troll was above him, terrifying mass of overgrown, blackened flesh, what was once its hands pressed to elongated head, mutated into antlers. Rows of fangs lined the face locked in perpetual scream and empty eyes stared quietly. Ash-coloured saliva dripped slowly and Onni tried to crawl back, further away from it.

She sat on monster’s back, her smile oddly regal.

“See? I won’t hurt you.”

_Oh, really_? Onni sent her a glare and, in a last-second ditch, summoned lightning.

The entire world was thunder and flash. He was suddenly thrown back, half-blinded, everything around him white, his ears full of ringing. He felt water underneath him, then soft touch of feathers and distinct sensation of flying as the _luonto_ carried him towards his perimeter, the safe and shadowed place where she’d never find him.

***

_He comes back to his senses where some hands grab him and pull him up. He tries to fight them, certain that they mean no good, but then he hears the voices – he doesn’t really know what they say, but they sound familiar and concerned and he lets himself be pulled up and on wooden floor – no, deck. Half-lucid, he recognizes the familiar rolling of a boat._

_When he opens his eyes again, it’s dark, with only a single electric lamp glowing in the corner of a small cabin. Over his bed, two familiar figures sit and he lets out a breath of relief, looking up at them.  
_

_“Onni? Onni, say something.” He recognizes Tuuri, small, barely a few years old yet, and manages to pull up a smile.  
_

_“I’m alright.”  
_

_“Your legs are broken.” It’s Lalli, all bundled up and staring at him from layers upon layers of coats and furs.  
_

_“So… I_ will _be alright. I guess.”  
_

_Tuuri smiles, but it’s a strained smile, he can see it.  
_

_“They tested you for infection. You’re still safe.”  
_

_He knows he is. He can still move and speak, after all.  
_

_“That’s good. You?”  
_

_“I’m fine. Onni… Where’s grandpa?”  
_

_For a moment, he’s out of words. His thoughts come back to the fangs and teeth and roar in the forest, and how there was none of it just a few hours earlier.  
_

_“He’s… he won’t be joining us.”  
_

_Tuuri nods. She doesn’t know.  
_

_He’ll never tell her._

* * *

  **IV**

“So you refuse to do it again?”

The false dawn shone pale pink through the windows, giving everything a calming, dreamlike mood. Onni nodded, looking up at Kulmala from hospital bed. After waking up, he’d practically ran there, demanding to be checked for infection that might had been transmitted through the world of spirits. The results were still coming in, but it was clear the short woman manning the labs considered him to be hypochondriac at best.

Kulmala glared at him.

“I could use you, you know.”

“But I can’t do it. I can take double shifts at protective spells…”

“You already _are_ doing double shifts, Hotakainen.”

“Triple, then. Quadruple, if we have four shifts. But I’m not getting out into the dreamworld. I just won’t.”

Kulmala stared at him, but this time, Onni didn’t let himself break under this stare. After a moment, the old mage sat down on bed next to him.

“What happened tonight?”

Onni took a deep breath. He’d promised to himself, years back aboard the boat that carried them to Keuruu, that this particular mistake would remain Hotakainens’ secret, and their problem to solve.

“Spirits in the water. Tried to kill me. And I think there’s a troll somewhere south-west.” That was… an approximation of the truth, he supposed, what with her creature somehow making its way to the land of dreams.

“You ‘think’.”

“I haven’t done this in… ever. I don’t know how to say for certain.”

Kulmala stared at him some more, as if suspecting something and trying to read the proof out of Onni’s eyes. They were, however, absolutely blank. He’d had some practice with that.

Finally, the mage sighed and stood up.

“Alright, I see I won’t wrangle any secrets out of you. Your test results came in, and no, you’re not turning into _kano_ anytime soon. Take some regular sleep. Go fishing in your spirit world, if that’ll put your mind at ease.”

“Thank you.”

Kulmala snorted.

“I hold you to your word about those quadruple shifts, Hotakainen, so sleep while you still can.”

With that, he left Onni alone. The mage sighed and hid his head in his hands, rubbing his temples. Lalli better made contact soon, he thought. I have to warn him.

It was looking for them again.

_She_ was looking for them again.


End file.
